KOZHIKODE: Hardly a month later, the carcass of another blue whale was discovered on Kozhikode beach on Tuesday night. This time, the carcass was found near the pulimoottu close to the Vellayil harbour. Local fishermen were the first to come across the massive find at 9:30 pm.
According to the locals and also the health officials from Kozhikode corporation, the carcass had already begun to decompose, indicating it had been adrift for more than two days.
The whale was around 35-feet-long. On Wednesday morning, officials from the corporation health department and Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) arrived at the spot to examine the condition of the carcass and collected samples from it.
Veterinary surgeon Dr V S Sreeshma said, “In September, we had found the carcass of a female whale on the beach. Since the carcass had started to decompose, we couldn’t do the postmortem procedure. The samples taken by CMFRI were rejected as they were not fit for evaluation due to its decomposed situation. Same has been the case with the carcass that was found on Tuesday. We will be soon requesting CMRFI to conduct a detailed study on the reason for the whale deaths.”
The corporation has clarified that the body would be buried by Wednesday night. The nearly 30-foot-long body is believed to have died weeks ago. A rope was found tangled around the whale’s tail. It is believed to have been collected from a fishing boat or some other similar object.
Vessel hitting, noise pollution possible reasons
With frequent incidents of whale stranding raising concerns about marine pollution, the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) has launched a study to assess the marine mammal stock on the Indian coast and the reason for stranding.
“Incidents of whale stranding happen along the western coast during the monsoon season every year. During monsoon season, the Malabar coast witnesses a phenomenon called Malabar upwelling which brings nutrients to the surface and fish shoals are attracted to the area due to phytoplankton blooming. The abundance of sardines and mackerel attracts blue whales to the Malabar coast,” said Dr R Ratheesh Kumar, principal investigator of the marine mammal assessment project.